This invention relates to a reversible arm movement limiter apparatus and method.
A huge variety of devices have been developed and known in the art for quite some time for use in assisting and/or limiting the movement a user may make from that which the body can make without such a device. In particular, with regard to sports endeavors, it is known that there are a number of movements that the human body can make that are not beneficial to the desired result. In particular, with regard to a golf swing, a correct swing is a most "unnatural" endeavor. For example, a major focus in golfing education is to "keep the left arm straight." Examples of devices designed to do just that are disclosed in MacDonald U.S. Pat. No. 1,457,710; Buzan U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,478; Marchetti U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,953; Corbett et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,089; and Poggioli U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,276. MacDonald discloses a complicated piston-like device designed to keep the left arm straight. In golf, for right-handed golfers, the left arm is the arm that should be kept straight. For left-handed golfers it would be the fight arm. For right-handed golfers, the fight arm is called the following arm. For left-handed golfers, the left arm is the following arm.
Poggioli and Buzan both disclose inventions designed to assist in keeping the left arm straight for right-handed golfers, and to provide an audio signal when the left arm strays from the straight position. Marchetti discloses a device that assists in keeping the left arm straight. Some motion is allowed in Marchetti; however, once the back swing has been completed, according to Marchetti, the elbow is controlled against further rotation thereafter. Marchetti's device is simpler than others but still comprises a variety of moving parts capable of failure. The Corbett et al. patent discloses a particular design for keeping the left arm straight for right-handed golfers, but most importantly, for assisting with "pronation" of the left arm at the end of the swing.
None of these prior art devices addresses the issue of ensuring that the golfer's following arm is in the correct position during the critical points of the golf stroke.
The Manley patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,587, does attempt to help the golf swing by focusing on the following arm. The Manley device, however, is a movable pivoting device that is attached at three places on the following arm. The device enables free movement of the right arm throughout the back swing and follow through while the various pieces of the device rotate or pivot. This device requires attachment at multiple points including the elbow, the forearm, and the upper arm in order for it to function properly. Additionally, it includes moveable parts which could break and potentially pinch the golfer or get entangled with the golfer's clothing while completing a proper golf swing. Further, it does not disclose any intermediary positions, only 90.degree..
A drawback to the golf training and motion restriction devices known in the art is that they generally include, as discussed above, a variety of complicated moving parts that can break, pinch, wear out, and generally cause more trouble than they are worth. Further, invariably they involve a complicated attachment process to the golfer so that the golfer is put off from using them simply by the difficulty in actually attaching the device to the user's body. Thus, there is a need in the art for providing an arm movement limiting device that is simple, easy to use, has limited moving parts, if any, and is attached to the golfer at as few places as possible while still accomplishing its stated purpose of movement limitation. It, therefore, is an object of this invention to provide an arm movement limiter which is easy to use, attached to only one portion of the user's arm, and which indicates an improper movement simply and without moving mechanical parts.